Two days had passed since Professor Rinehart made his announcement.
The news of the Student Exchange Program was widely discussed inside the academy and was met with positive feedback.
If Brynhildr Academy was the most prestigious Magical Academy in Eastshire, Nightfall Academy was the most prestigious Magical Academy in Grandshire.
Due to its accessible location, Humans were not the only beings who went there to study Magic.
Elves, Dwarves, and even Beastkins were also attending the academy.
Simply put, it was a hub where all races could mingle, and the academy had the joint support of Human, Beast, Elven, and Dwarven Kingdoms.
After learning that Ethan was being forced to go to Nightfall Academy, Chloe and Luna decided to try their luck and see if they could secure one of the remaining slots for the First Years.
While everyone was quite excited to see who would be randomly picked from the ballot box tomorrow, things were heating up inside the Training Room of Dud Manor.
The sound of metal hitting against metal reverberated in the surroundings as Ethan and Nicole clashed with each other.
Nicole had been dying to spar with Ethan to see how much he had improved, and the latter finally gave in to her pestering.
The majority of the members of Dud Manor were watching this battle on the sidelines with surprised expressions on their faces.
Even Chloe and Luna couldn’t believe what they were seeing.
“T-They are evenly matched?” Chloe blinked her eyes in disbelief.
“Ethan had become strong,” Luna commented. “He’s no longer the same Ethan that Nicole could easily defeat in the past.”
The rapier in Nicole’s hand hummed as she took a step back after clashing with Ethan for the umpteenth time.
A dangerous smile could be seen on her face as she eyed Ethan like a hunter about to end her prey.
Ethan, on the other hand, held a pitchfork that was made from his Moulding Ball.
“Take out your Sea God’s Trident,” Nicole stated. “I want to fight you for real.”
“Nicole, rein in your bloodlust,” Ethan replied with a calm expression on his face. “This is just a spar. Not a battle of life and death.”
The smile on Nicole’s face widened as if she didn’t hear Ethan’s words. This time, her sword glowed faintly as she imbued it with magic power.
Since Ethan didn’t want to fight her for real, she would force him to fight her for real!
Nicole unleashed a flurry of sword thrusts at the teenage boy, which the latter dodged and deflected.
Seeing that the young beauty had no intention of stopping, Ethan decided to counterattack and swung his pitchfork sidewards.
Since his weapon had a longer reach, Nicole was forced to jump backward, but that was a mistake.
Ethan stopped his strike mid-way, and closed the distance between them in a heartbeat, while Nicole was still trying to stabilize her form.
A moment later, Nicole found herself lying on the floor, staring at the ceiling in disbelief.
‘He used a feint against me?’ Nicole thought. ‘Ethan can now use feints against me?’
After closing the gap between them, Ethan used a palm strike, taking advantage of the fact that she still hadn’t regained her balance.
Ethan’s palm strike was more like a push rather than a strike, containing just enough power to make Nicole fall to the ground, without hurting her.
“That was so cool!” Chloe couldn’t stop herself from jumping in place after seeing such an amazing performance from her cousin. “I didn’t know that he improved this much after returning to the academy.”
“Yes.” A faint blush could be seen on Luna’s face as she looked dreamily at Ethan. “He’s amazing.”
Since she already liked Ethan, seeing him perform so well made her heart skip a beat.
Nicole was arguably one of the strongest First Years in the academy, proficient in both sword techniques and magic.
Seeing the handsome young man emerge victorious against someone like Nicole made everyone in Dud Manor look at the blue-haired boy in a new light.
“Are you okay?” Ethan asked as he offered his hand to help Nicole stand up.
Nicole accepted the gesture and pulled herself up. 𝑜𝐯𝗅xt.𝗇𝓔t
She then looked at Ethan with a serious expression on her face.
“Ethan, let’s fight for real,” Nicole stated. “A Pillar Battle like what you did with Langston. Fight me in the arena.”
“Sorry, but I’ll pass,” Ethan replied. “I am not interested in Pillar Battles.”
Nicole clicked her tongue after hearing Ethan’s reply. She still wanted to spar with him, but her opponent had already stored his weapon inside his Storage Ring.
It was not honorable to attack an unarmed person. As a Knight, Nicole couldn’t bring herself to do it despite her strong desire to fight Ethan.
However, just as Ethan was about to exit the training ground, Henry approached him with a smile.
“Ethan, fight me,” Henry said.
‘Oh, great… another battle junkie,’ Ethan smiled bitterly. ‘But I’m also curious to know how I match up against the strongest student of the academy.’
After pondering for some time, Ethan reluctantly nodded his head to accept Henry’s request to do battle with him.
Nicole, who had been rejected by Ethan earlier, didn’t seem to be angered by the handsome young man’s reply. In fact, it made her feel excited.
Although she wasn’t the one who was going to fight Ethan, she was also very keen to see him fight against the Head Prefect of Dud Manor, whom many considered to be the strongest student of the academy.
“Ethan, I’ll say this before we start,” Henry stated. “I’m only going to fight you with a third of my strength. If you manage to force me to use more than that, it will be your win.”
Ethan blinked once then twice before nodding his head. He understood that Henry was giving himself a handicap, so he decided to see how he would fare against a third of the Head Prefect’s overall strength.
“Are you ready?” Henry asked as he summoned a silver dagger in his hand.
“Ready.” The Moulding Ball in Ethan’s hand transformed into a pitchfork.
The two combatants stared at each other for nearly half a minute before Henry threw his dagger toward the young man.
A moment later, he blinked at the location of the dagger and unleashed a kick toward Ethan’s shoulder.
Ethan’s sixth sense told him that this was no ordinary kick, so he hurriedly used the handle of his weapon to block the attack.
He succeeded in doing so, however, what happened next caught him by surprise.
The force behind Henry’s kick was so strong that the handsome young man was almost sent flying by his first strike.
Fortunately, Ethan was able to hold his ground, but he still skidded several meters away from where he stood.
‘Strong,’ Ethan thought as he looked at his Head Prefect, who was smiling at him like a devil.
He had fought many Warriors and Monsters throughout his stay in the Lands of Alastor.
But he had to admit that the person he was facing right now was one of the strongest fighters that he had faced after gaining the Tide Bringer’s Legacy.
Nicole, who was paying close attention to Ethan, couldn’t help but smile.
The reason?
The handsome young man was also smiling.
‘I knew it,’ Nicole thought. ‘Sir Henry must have felt it too. Ethan was holding back when we were sparring earlier.’
This fact irritated Nicole. Although she wasn’t fighting with her full strength, she found it annoying that Ethan was actually not fighting at his full strength either.
In the past, the handsome young man would always fight her with everything he had until he could no longer stand up.
Now, Ethan was like a deep lake with calm waters.
The only way to create ripples on the water’s surface was for a strong gust of wind to blow or to drop a stone within it in order to awaken the sleeping beast dwelling within.